Jesus: Marvel of Nature

[0:00] All right, well, good morning, everyone. Again, so good to be with you today. If you have your Bibles with you this morning, and I hope you do, we'll be looking again in Philippians chapter number two, and the stage is set today for us to begin looking at the second facet of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

[0:23] And as we saw last week, that's just a fancy word that means how Jesus, the divinity, and the humanness was in one individual.

[0:42] Jesus Christ, the God-man, Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God, in one person. And that is the incarnation.

[0:52] We're going to look this morning at Philippians chapter two, verses five through 11, but we're going to key in on one of those verses this morning.

[1:03] I want to talk about how last week we talked about how Jesus was in very nature God, but today we're going to look at how Jesus is in very nature or was in very nature man.

[1:17] Last week, the hope of glory. Today, we're going to see that he is a marvel of nature. Philippians chapter two, we're going to begin in verse five, read through the passage, get a glimpse of the context, and then go back to one verse in particular.

[1:36] Philippians chapter two, beginning with verse number five, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

[2:14] Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

[2:40] Let us pray this morning, dear God, as we look at the marvel of Jesus Christ being able to identify with us, leaving heaven and taking on the form of human flesh, so that he would be able to take our place, and being also fully God, so that he could satisfy the wrath, your wrath against sin.

[3:06] Father, thank you so very much. Teach us today, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, last week, we unpacked verse number 6, how Jesus was in very nature God.

[3:24] He existed throughout eternity as God. In the beginning, the world was formed. It says the Lord, and it uses a plural pronoun there.

[3:37] John chapter 1 talks about, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And today, I would like for us to camp at verse number 7, and unpack that verse, and see how Jesus is in very nature man as well.

[3:57] Every single word in this verse is important, and I want us to see the truths unfold there as we look at Jesus being the unique Son.

[4:09] That's a literal translation of John chapter 1, verse 14, where we were last week, that Jesus was the only begotten of the Father, the one and only Son.

[4:24] That is a translation of the Greek word homogenous, which means unique, or one and only, none other like Him, the single one that has been brought forth, none other like Jesus, so He is unique.

[4:44] The same word, same Greek word in John chapter 3, verse 16, the only begotten, the one and only. That's why Jesus is unique.

[4:54] There's no other religion that even remotely comes close to having a God or a Savior like Jesus. And we know from Scripture, from the Bible, that Jesus is God, and Jesus became a human being.

[5:13] So what makes Jesus so unique? As we're going to see this unfold in these verses today, I want us to think of Jesus as being a marvel.

[5:23] None other that has ever been like Him. None other ever since. And I think as we're able to wrap our hearts and our minds around this truth that we're going to see today, it hopefully will change the way we relate to Jesus.

[5:39] And as we walk with Him and as we see Him throughout every single day of our life. And the first truth that I would like for us to see that is brought forth out of this verse number 7, is the fact that Jesus, although He is the sovereign creator, the Bible says He became the slave of His creation.

[6:06] He is the sovereign creator, yet at the same time He is the slave of His creation. Verse 7 says that He made Himself of no reputation and He took the form of a bond servant.

[6:26] It says that He made Himself of no reputation. Literally, the Bible says He emptied Himself. The Greek word there is kenosis, the emptying of Jesus Christ.

[6:41] He made Himself of no reputation, emptied Himself, and took on the form of human nature. He emptied Himself in order to become a man.

[6:54] We saw last week that He was fully God. Today, we're going to see how He's unique as being fully God and fully man.

[7:04] And when Jesus emptied Himself, you know, we have to be careful that we understand what it really means here is that He didn't become less of God, but He took upon Himself human flesh.

[7:23] He emptied Himself by bringing something onto Himself. And that's where some people get all tied up when they try to figure out how Jesus emptied Himself.

[7:34] Was He less God when He took on human flesh? Was He not all man? And was He not all God? So we're going to look at that this morning. So what we're going to see is the fact that Jesus has two natures.

[7:50] He had from the very beginning the form or the nature of God and took upon Himself the nature of human flesh. And although without sin.

[8:01] So Jesus exists as God and Jesus exists as man. Next we see He is the sovereign creator.

[8:11] He became a slave of His creation. He is sovereign. He was in on the creation. But yet He chose to take upon the form, as Philippians chapter 2 verse 7 says, took upon Himself the form of a bondservant.

[8:30] He's the creator God. He's God. He deserves our allegiance. He deserves our praise. He deserves everything, all of our adoration. But yet He chose to become our servant.

[8:44] And what we're going to see here is, as we continue to unpack this, is Jesus is one person with two natures.

[8:55] Exists in the form of God, the essence of God, and took upon Himself the nature of human flesh. He got hungry.

[9:07] He got sleepy. He got tired. He was able to cry. He was able to laugh. He had the same emotions that we had. The Bible even says He became angry, albeit without sinning.

[9:20] So He was one person with two different natures. Now throughout our time to get... Now this morning, I want to throw out a term. It's a term, if you want to write it down, you're going to leave today a little bit smarter than when you came in.

[9:36] Okay? The term that I'm going to throw out is the term hypostatic union. Hypostatic union. That's a very, very important term.

[9:51] As a matter of fact, I remember back 30 some odd years ago when I was ordained. I sat before an ordination council, and it was a scary group of pastors who were there to ask me a whole bunch of questions.

[10:05] And wouldn't you know the very first question that the first pastor asked? He said, Bart, can you explain the hypostatic union?

[10:18] Fortunately, I remembered my Bible college training, and I was able to sufficiently answer that question. And the whole idea of the hypostatic union is Jesus fully God and Jesus being fully man.

[10:35] And how can that union exist? Well, truth be told, nobody can explain the hypostatic union. The hypostatic union is merely a two-bit term that theologians use to discuss how Jesus can be both God and man at the same time.

[10:57] So if you want to go out after this and talk to someone about the hypostatic union, they're going to think that you're some kind of Bible scholar or something. And that is something that theologians have disagreed on all throughout the ages, how Jesus can be fully God and fully man.

[11:17] And there have been some errors that have come up because of this. We have Arianism, Ebionism, that deny the deity of Jesus Christ, that say that Jesus was not God when he became man.

[11:33] We have Apollinarism and Docetism that have arisen centuries ago that denied the humanity of Jesus Christ. These two teachings said that he was fully God, and as God he could not lower himself to become a man, otherwise he would become less God.

[11:54] And we also have Nestorianism that said he really existed as two persons in one. Have you ever seen these Russian nesting dolls? That's kind of the picture they used for Jesus.

[12:06] He was man and then God, like two persons. Jesus was not two persons. He was one person with two natures, with two essences.

[12:18] Jesus Christ God, Jesus Christ man. So as we look at this, it's difficult. When Jesus was on earth and he prayed to the Father, was he praying to himself?

[12:31] We can really get ourselves in a bind if we try to think about it too much, because this little natural mind of ours will never be able to wrap our heads around the concept of how Jesus can be God and Jesus can be man.

[12:48] Is he one or the other? He's both, and he emptied himself by taking upon himself human flesh and human form.

[13:00] So when we don't know what to do, we just need to do what we know to do. When we don't know what to believe, we just need to go on what we already know. So as we do that, the first thing that we know, and we saw this last week as we opened it up, is as the Son of God, Jesus is fully God.

[13:21] We saw how important that was last week, because if Jesus were not God, another slide change error, unfortunately, I'm going to have to go somewhere else to get my notes.

[13:34] So he is fully God. As the Son of God, Jesus is fully God. Completely, it would be inaccurate, as we studied last week, to say that Jesus is part of God.

[13:54] Jesus is God, just as he's fully man. Remember in the New Testament when Jesus was talking, He said, I and the Father are one.

[14:08] He talked about being equal with God. We see testimony to his deity all throughout Scripture. Remember Colossians 2, verse 9 from last week?

[14:20] In him dwells the fullness of the Godhead. In Jesus dwells the fullness of God, not part of God. He is fully God.

[14:32] As the Son of God, a common term for Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Son of God. He is fully God. But also what we see as the Son of Man, also a common term for Jesus Christ.

[14:49] The Bible teaches us that Jesus is fully man. The second facet, as the Son of Man, he is fully man.

[15:00] Not part human, but just like us in every way except without sin. Jesus, as we saw, he was able to feel sorrow. He was able to cry.

[15:11] He was able to laugh. He got hungry. He got tired. He needed to sleep. All through this picture of Jesus Christ, we see that he identified with us by taking upon himself the nature of humanity.

[15:28] He was fully man while being fully God. Now we have to be careful because sometimes we have this kind of idealized picture of the humanity of Jesus Christ.

[15:41] And we even see it borne out in some of our Christmas carols. Like when we sing away in a manger, we sing no crying he makes. How many of you have ever had a child that never cried?

[15:55] Or at least didn't cry at some time? You know, it's almost like we have this angelic, unrealistic picture of Jesus in the manger. Like he was the perfect baby. He was perfect.

[16:06] But he pooped in his diapers. And he cried. And he wet. But he was a human being at the same time as being fully God. I've actually seen one of these Italian paintings of Jesus as a baby with his hands like this.

[16:23] I mean, really? I mean, come on now. Jesus was a human being while he was fully God. He chose when he emptied himself to go through the same maturation process that you and I go through.

[16:39] Because the Bible tells us that in Luke chapter 2 verse 52, he grew in wisdom. He grew in stature. He had to learn how to talk. He had to learn how to walk.

[16:50] He had to crawl before he could walk. And so what the Bible tells us is, now, can you imagine having a preteen and a teenager who had fun just like every other boy but was perfect?

[17:08] Hard to imagine, right? It's hard to imagine. But he was. And he was fully God. But he was fully man. Jesus as a man cried.

[17:19] So I'm sure Jesus as a baby cried. Experienced the same things that we did. Philippians chapter 2 verse 7. He existed in the form of God.

[17:31] Existed in the form of a servant. So there was a point in time where God becomes a man. That's what we celebrate at Christmas.

[17:42] That's what we celebrate on December 25th. The day that has been set aside for us to recognize the birth, the human birth of Jesus Christ.

[17:55] But we also see Jesus Christ always at the right hand of God. After he went up from the earth, he is forever sitting at the right hand of God the Father.

[18:09] So how do we explain this? Well, you know what? The point is not for us to be able to explain it. God says, Jesus says, I and the Father are one.

[18:20] He says, you want to see the Father? He says, you've seen me? You've seen the Father. You want to see God? Look upon the face of Jesus. We want to see God? Look at what the Bible teaches about Jesus.

[18:33] But Jesus was also fully man. Otherwise, he could not have died on the cross in our place. So let's not get lost in trying to explain it and understand it.

[18:46] And there are many who say, because I cannot understand it, I cannot believe it. Well, that is saying that we do not trust God.

[18:57] So God, the Bible teaches, he is fully God. He is fully man. But what we see that this is, is Jesus existing as fully God and fully man.

[19:08] And remember last week we saw John chapter 1, where the Bible said that in the beginning was the Word. And why would John choose the word, Word, to talk about Jesus Christ?

[19:22] Well, how do we express ourselves? How does God express himself? Through communicating. And literally what we see in the emptying out of Jesus, emptying of himself, becoming a human being, is we see it as God's revelation by humiliation.

[19:41] God's revelation by humiliation. What does Philippians 2.7 say? But he made himself, he emptied himself, made himself of no reputation by taking the form of a, what's the word?

[19:58] Of a bondservant or a slave. And see, God reveals himself perfectly by his very nature, by taking on, humbling himself and taking upon himself human nature.

[20:15] The readers in Philippi were undoubtedly familiar with slaves. Slaves had no rights. Slaves could not, did not have the freedom that everyone else had.

[20:28] A slave surrendered their rights, surrendered their privilege, surrendered their pride, and anything else along those lines. And that's the picture that Paul uses to describe Jesus.

[20:41] He became a slave, a servant of his creation, taking upon himself the form of mankind and becomes a slave. But what does Mark 10.25 say?

[20:52] He came not to be served, but he came as what? The servant of all. And isn't that a beautiful picture of the gospel? Not necessarily that we follow him and we give glory to him, but the fact that he came to serve us.

[21:11] So we obey him, we glorify him, we follow him, but the beauty is he came to serve us. And literally, isn't that what we see in the gospel? He served us by sending his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place.

[21:28] Revelation. He revealed himself by humbling himself and becoming a human being. It demonstrates his character, the character of a servant.

[21:40] We see throughout the word of God that because of sin, because of what Adam did in the garden of Eden, it created a chasm. It created a deep divide between man and God.

[21:53] And there was no way that man could span that gulf in between on his own. And that's why God had to reveal himself, humbling himself, humiliating himself, so to speak, as the word of God says, and becoming a human being.

[22:11] Humbled himself, made himself of no reputation, and came in the likeness of mankind. And that is the beauty of the incarnation. You know, when we ask, where is God?

[22:22] Just like the song, Mary, did you know? When you look upon the face of that baby, when Mary and Joseph and the shepherds looked upon the face of Jesus, they saw literally, very literally, the face of God.

[22:40] Because there was Emmanuel, God, with us. Beautiful, beautiful picture. But by emptying himself, we see the next main point.

[22:53] First of all, he is the sovereign God, but yet he became the slave of his creation. The second thing we see mapped out in verse number 7 of Philippians chapter 2 is that Jesus is perfect, yet he pays the price for our sin.

[23:16] Well, let me go back up a little bit further. By emptying himself, Jesus perfectly, I got ahead of myself. By emptying himself, Jesus perfectly reveals both his deity and his humanity to all creation.

[23:35] Well, some people say, well, Jesus wasn't just like us. Yes, he was, except without sin.

[23:46] Because we have to remember, how did God create man? Initially, God created man without sin. And that was God's intention, that man would remain forever without sin. But that's not how it worked out.

[23:59] So God created mankind without sin. Jesus became a human being, and because he was fully God, he could not sin. And he did not sin.

[24:11] And so he revealed God's perfect picture of what humanity should be as the Godhead dwelt with humanity. It's an amazing truth.

[24:21] Remember, we can never understand it. But we just simply have to believe it. So as a sovereign creator of the universe, Jesus perfectly reveals his deity.

[24:34] Because Jesus still, as a human being, had full control over creation. Do you remember? When he was napping in the front of the boat, the disciples were in the middle of a storm.

[24:45] And they woke him up and said, Jesus, don't you care that we're about ready to drown? And Jesus stands up. The Bible says he addresses the winds and the waves. And he says, peace. Be still.

[24:56] And the winds and the waves obeyed him and became calm. He was able to raise Lazarus from the dead. He was without sin his entire human life.

[25:07] He perfectly reveals his deity, but he also perfectly revealed his humanity. He had compassion. He wept. He was tired.

[25:19] Just like, as human beings, we are as well. So what we see is the second main point is he is perfect.

[25:34] Yet he pays the price for our sin. You see, Jesus does not deserve to go to the cross. Because Jesus never had to pay for his own sin. Because Jesus had no sin.

[25:46] Jesus never did sin. But although he's perfect, he pays the price for our sin. Now we're getting to the question of Jesus being fully God and fully man.

[26:02] Why is it so important that Jesus became a man, fully God, and fully man? Well, the truth is, if Jesus were not fully God, he could not have paid for our sins eternally.

[26:16] And the truth is, if Jesus were not fully man, he could not have been the substitute on Calvary for us. So he had to be both.

[26:28] I want to see it in two levels. First of all, as a man, he alone can substitute for human sin. He alone can substitute for human sin.

[26:42] We go to the Old Testament book. Remember the book of Ruth? Boaz became Ruth's kinsman redeemer. And the reality is, you had to be a relative in order to be a kinsman redeemer.

[26:55] Hence the name, kinsman redeemer. And so what it's teaching us is, the redeemer had to be like the redeemed. And so as a human being, what Jesus could do was, Jesus could be a perfect substitute for humanity.

[27:14] Only a human could be a substitute for a human. And that's what Jesus became. He became a human being. And so he alone could substitute for us, or he could substitute for us in his humanity.

[27:31] Now, how can we ever have somebody that takes the wrath of God as a substitute for us, as a substitute for sin? Because remember, if Jesus were your ordinary, run-of-the-mill human being, how could he take our sin and pay for our sin?

[27:51] Well, the thing is, a human being with sin would have to pay for his own sin. And so Jesus was a perfect substitute because of his humanity.

[28:03] But that's not where it stops. We go to the next point, is because he was fully God, and without sin, he alone can satisfy divine wrath.

[28:15] Because remember, Jesus was God. God. Jesus is God. So that God became a man, fully God, fully human, Jesus Christ took the wrath of God upon himself so that we would not have to experience the wrath of God.

[28:36] Because you see, if Jesus Christ were not fully God and fully man, salvation would not be possible. Because he is fully God when he hung upon the cross of Calvary.

[28:51] In his humanity, he was our substitute. But in his deity, he was able to satisfy the wrath of God.

[29:03] Because when God poured out his wrath in those some three hours where there was total darkness, and God had turned his back on Jesus, and Jesus cries out from the cross, My God, my God, where are you?

[29:17] In other words, why have you turned your back? And that was probably the most agonizing part of Jesus' death on the cross, to be totally separated for the first time in history of the universe.

[29:29] To be separated from God the Father. Such agony that he experienced. But because he was fully God, he could pay an eternal price for our sin.

[29:43] He took upon himself human flesh, although he did not give up his deity to become a human being.

[29:53] So therefore, he was able to die on the cross for us. And that is awesome in his greatness, to realize fully God, fully man, taking our place on the cross of Calvary.

[30:10] And then our third main point. And this is what sets Christianity apart from other religions. And this is the fact that Jesus is transcendent over his people.

[30:26] Because he's God. He is transcendent. He's not just here. He's not just within each of us. He's everywhere. He is all-present.

[30:36] He is omnipresent. He is over us as God. Because he is our creator. He is our sustainer. And isn't it amazing how Jesus, as a baby, in the manger, could still be holding the entire universe together?

[30:57] Think about that. Well, he couldn't talk. He couldn't even walk yet. But who was he? He was God. So how could a little baby, two hours old, that can't talk, that can't walk, hold the universe together?

[31:16] Because he's God. And so it's hard for us to understand. But the reality is, it's true. So he is transcendent over his people.

[31:29] But this next part is what sets him apart. That's why he's unique. Yet he identifies intimately with his people. He identifies intimately with his people.

[31:40] If you have grown up in a Christian home and grown up in church, you've probably not had that much interaction with other religions and people with extremely different religious ideological viewpoints.

[31:56] But if you've spent any time dealing with Muslims, and I have. I have friends who are. And when they talk about Jesus could not be God.

[32:10] Because in their mind, God could not dirty himself by taking on human flesh. And so it's a concept foreign to them.

[32:24] Same thing with many religions. So their God is transcendent over them. But he's apart from them. He is aloof. But what makes Jesus unique is, he can be both God and man at the same time.

[32:42] Not only is he transcendent over us, but he is intimately related with us. And he is there. Matter of fact, the Bible says, because with his Holy Spirit, Jesus' presence is within us.

[32:56] And we are the temple of God. The Holy Spirit resides within us. And the beauty of Scripture is this. He's over us.

[33:09] He's above us. But he's also with us. When it says he made himself nothing, when he took upon himself the nature of a servant, it didn't mean that Jesus exchanged his deity for humanity.

[33:24] It just means he took upon himself humanity, walked among us, showed that he was with us. And this is what we see in his human likeness.

[33:38] You know, some people say, well, Jesus doesn't understand. God doesn't understand. Well, here's the first reality. That in the likeness of human nature, he is familiar with our struggles.

[33:52] As a human, Jesus was familiar with our struggles. Let's go back to Hebrews. Let's go to Hebrews 2 for a moment. Hebrews chapter 2.

[34:06] And we're going to spend a couple more, a little bit of time and a couple more passages in Hebrews. Now, we mentioned earlier that Jesus never sinned. As God in his deity, Jesus never did sin.

[34:22] Now, people have asked the question for ages. Could Jesus have sinned? Now, remember, Jesus was both God and man. Because he was fully God, we believe that Scripture teaches that Jesus could never have sinned.

[34:41] It would have been an impossibility. It would have been totally against his very nature as God to sin. Now, remember, it was not like a dividing line and when you glue two things together.

[34:55] That's not how Jesus became man. Jesus was fully God and fully man. How can it be? I already told you, we can't understand it. We just have to accept it. So, in his deity, Jesus could not have sinned.

[35:09] But here's what we see in Hebrews chapter 2, verse 18. For in that, he himself did what? Suffered, being tempted.

[35:21] He is able to do what? To aid, to help those who are tempted. Let's go now to Hebrews chapter 4 and expand this.

[35:36] Verses 14 through 16 becomes even clearer. And we'll look at, we'll read verse 14 through 16, but we'll get more look at verses 15 and 16.

[35:47] Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Now we go to verse 15.

[36:00] For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

[36:21] Did you catch that? The Bible says Jesus was tempted in all points, just like we are. Now, like we said, people will debate. Could Jesus have sinned?

[36:32] We believe no. From the very beginning of his ministry, Matthew 4, Luke 4, we see that Jesus was tempted. He was tempted by Satan.

[36:44] He was tempted in the garden. And all through, we see this. And, you know, some people will say, I don't know if Jesus can really understand what we're going through because he never sinned.

[36:59] And it's almost like saying, because what do we do when we have a problem? We go to someone else who's also had that problem, who've kind of sinned like we did, and have gotten beyond it.

[37:13] Well, the problem is, we get it backwards. We think that someone really understands us when they sinned like we did, and got forgiveness. But the reality is, Jesus understands so much more as he took the whole brunt of the temptation by never sinning.

[37:34] You say, well, Pastor, I don't know where you're going with that. Think about it. We're tempted. We're tempted. We're tempted. We're tempted. We give in. It's kind of like pressure valve is released. Okay?

[37:47] Jesus, tempted, tempted, tempted, chooses no. Or chooses yes. Whatever. So he does not sin. Reality is, Jesus took the whole brunt of temptation by never giving in to sin.

[38:04] By never giving in to the temptation. So really, he understands what it's like not to sin, yet to be tempted. Again, blows our mind.

[38:14] How can that be? So for us thinking that we have to, for him to fully understand us, he would have had to sin, is a faulty idea. So he took the full brunt of temptation, but never sinning.

[38:29] So he understands. He's familiar with our struggles. He understands completely what we go through, but yet did not sin.

[38:40] He experienced the full force of those temptations. He is able to sympathize with them. Tempted in every way. And therefore, but sin has no claim on him because he never sinned.

[38:54] He is also familiar with our sorrow. Also familiar with our sorrow. Remember John 11? Where his friend Lazarus died.

[39:07] What did Jesus do when he finally came and saw his sisters, Mary and Martha? Do you remember? That has given us, who've ever been in the awkward situation of saying, okay, let's all recite a Bible verse.

[39:26] And aren't you glad you memorized John 11, 35? Jesus wept. I said my Bible verse. Right? No, what it's teaching us is Jesus had sorrow just like us.

[39:39] And Jesus cried. Jesus wept. And so Jesus knows what it's like. To grieve. Jesus knows what it's like to lose someone near him.

[39:53] In his humanity. Jesus knew what it was like. Jesus knows what it was like to lose someone. Their tears touched him.

[40:05] And it became his tears. He's familiar with our sorrows. He knows how we feel. So no matter what life hands out. He is always there for us.

[40:16] And he is able to help. Because he has experienced what we've experienced in sorrow and struggles.

[40:26] And he is also familiar with our suffering. He is also familiar with our suffering. Let's go back to Hebrews 2. Familiar with our suffering.

[40:41] Hebrews chapter 2. We'll look at verses 10 and 12 here. Again, this is talking about his humanity. Hebrews 2 gives us a picture of the humanity of Christ.

[40:53] Listen to what verse 10 says. For it was fitting for him for whom all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect or complete through sufferings.

[41:08] For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one. For which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren saying, I will declare your name to my brethren.

[41:25] In the midst of the assembly, I will sing praise to you. He's familiar with our sufferings. He's not immune to them. He was not removed from them.

[41:37] You see, we don't have a distant God who doesn't understand us. We have a God who, yes, is transcendent over us. We've got a God who's with us. By our side.

[41:48] Residing within us. Familiar with our sorrows. Familiar with our struggles. Familiar with our sufferings. He is familiar with the hurts and the pains that we go through.

[41:59] So we could never, ever, no matter how deep the depths we go, we could never say, Jesus, you don't understand how I feel.

[42:12] Now we can say that to another human being. And I say it often as I am dealing with people in trauma and crisis and grief. I don't know how you feel. I just know that I'm here with you.

[42:27] But Jesus can say, I know how you feel. And we can say, Jesus, thank you for knowing how I feel. Because you alone can help me. When no other person can.

[42:39] When no one else can. And because. This is the third thing that we see. And because of who he is.

[42:50] Because he identifies intimately with us. Jesus does something for us. That no one else could do. The Bible says he intercedes for us.

[43:02] Jesus is at the right hand of God the Father. And anytime we mess up. Anytime we sin. And the devil comes to God and says, ah, you see, I told you.

[43:14] They were not holy. I told you they were not. And what happens? Jesus turns to the Father. And as our attorney. As our counsel. As our intercessor.

[43:26] Jesus says, but Father, remember, I died for him. I died for her. I paid the penalty already. Their sin is removed. As far as the east is.

[43:37] From the west. So he's always praying for us. Remember the Bible says, when we are struggling with our prayers and we don't know what to say. What happens? The Holy Spirit intercedes for us.

[43:47] Jesus is interceding for us. Let's look at Hebrews 7. Hebrews chapter 7. Verses 23 through 25.

[43:57] Jesus stands in the gap. Verse 23. Also, there were many priests because they were prevented by death from continuing.

[44:09] But he, Jesus Christ, because he continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him.

[44:20] Since he always lives to do what? To make intercession. To intercede for us with the Father. Always lives to make intercession for them.

[44:33] When we go through life. When we struggle with this pain or that temptation. To know that in the middle of that struggle. In the middle of that pain. Jesus is there to intercede before the Father.

[44:48] He is there interceding on our behalf. Romans 8.33. Romans 8.34. Who will bring any charge upon God's elect?

[44:59] No one can. Because Jesus is always there. It is God who justifies. Who is it that condemns? Christ Jesus who died.

[45:11] And it's Jesus the one that was raised to return to life. He's at the right hand of God the Father. And is now interceding for us. Continually standing in the gap. Interceding for us.

[45:23] So, as we recap. Jesus is the sovereign God. But yet he chose to empty himself. He didn't think it was.

[45:34] He didn't think equality with God was something to be held on to. Didn't think it was robbery to be equal with God. So, what he did was. He emptied himself. Took upon himself human flesh.

[45:46] And kind of. He divested himself of some of the glory. That he experienced in heaven. Made himself, the Bible says, to be a little lower than the angels. But in his humanity was still God.

[45:57] He is transcendent over us. Yet, he became a slave of his creation. He is perfect. But yet, he pays the price for our sin.

[46:09] He is transcendent over us. But the beauty is, he is unique. In that he identifies intimately with his people. Because he became one of us. And he died on the cross.

[46:21] In our place. And so, the bottom line is, what do we take? What's our big takeaway from this? Well, the first thing is, the incarnation is a marvel of nature.

[46:34] How can it be? Nothing ever before in nature like that. Jesus, having no earthly father. Born of the Holy Spirit. Fully God.

[46:45] Fully man. The incarnation is a marvel of nature that incites wonder. Never understand it. It's so wonderful. It is so wonderful. Nature has never seen that before.

[46:57] It is not natural. It is supernatural. Isn't that right? It is supernatural. So, Jesus was a marvel of nature.

[47:11] Nothing before like him. Nothing again, ever like him. It was unnatural. It was supernatural. So, it incites infinite wonder.

[47:26] And it ought to. To everyone who really knows who Jesus Christ is. But also, the next thing is, Jesus is the unique son.

[47:37] John 1.14. John 3.16. The one and only. The only begotten. Jesus is the unique son. And he incites infinite worship.

[47:49] If we really understand that Jesus is fully God. Jesus is fully man. It incites, or it ought to incite, infinite worship.

[48:00] As we think about that, it ought to change our lives completely. He's able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He knows exactly what we go through. So, this morning, as we're going into this Christmas season.

[48:14] Jesus. Fully. Fully. His deity. The nature of God. In essence, God.

[48:27] But also, Jesus Christ. In nature of a man. Although without sin. In essence, God. Having taken upon himself also the essence of humanity.

[48:39] Both one. Both God. Both man. Fully God. Fully man. He was able to take our place on the cross of Calvary. Die on the cross for us.

[48:50] And I am so thankful that he did it for you. And he did it for me. So, as we go through this time, thinking about the birth of our Savior. That baby in the manger was still God.

[49:04] And he is still God today. And the Bible says, as he ascended up to heaven after his resurrection, he ascended in human form.

[49:15] Although it was a resurrected supernatural form. And we don't know what we're going to be like when we get to heaven. But we're going to have a supernatural body.

[49:27] Like the Bible says. Someone similar to Jesus. Who was able to eat after he rose again. But was able to pass through walls. Isn't that awesome? So, we really don't understand all of Scripture.

[49:41] But we just know that Jesus is God. Emptied himself. Took upon himself human flesh. So that he could identify with us.

[49:52] And ultimately pay an eternal price on the cross of Calvary. For our sin. Let's pray. Our Lord Jesus, we thank you for humbling yourself.

[50:06] And taking upon yourself human flesh. And taking upon yourself the form of a servant. Father God, we thank you that you have chosen to make a way for us to be reconciled back with you.

[50:24] Father, we're so thankful for being who you are. We thank you for loving us. And we thank you for our salvation. Lord, help us to continually worship you.

[50:38] And praise you for being who you are. And may we glorify you in every part of our life. Father, we pray this in Jesus' name.

[50:50] Amen. Let's all stand.